The present invention relates to a shock absorber-equipped vehicle, such as a four-wheeled automobile, including a shock absorber mounted on, for example, each of a front wheel side and a rear wheel side.
Generally, vehicles such as four-wheeled automobiles are provided with a shock absorber on each wheel so as to be able to damp a vibration when the vehicle is running. As this type of shook absorber according to a conventional technique, there is a shock absorber that can mechanically variably adjust a damping force. Known examples thereof include a stroke-sensitive shock absorber configured to change a damping force characteristic according to at stroke position of a piston rod (for example, refer to International Publication No. 2013/081004). Further, there is also known a damping force adjustable shock absorber including an electronically controllable actuator that variably adjusts a generated damping force according to, for example, conditions under which the vehicle is driven that include a state of a road surface (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Public Disclosure No. 2009-281584).
[Patent Literature 1] International Publication No. 2013/081004
[Patent Literature 2] Japanese Patent Application Public Disclosure No. 2009-281584
The above-described stroke-sensitive shock absorber according to International Publication No. 2013/081004 is configured to change the damping force characteristic according to, for example, the stoke position of the piston rod, and does not require a sensor and the like for detecting, for example, the conditions under which the vehicle is driven. This omission leads to advantages of eliminating a necessity of the electronically controllable actuator and the like and simplifying the entire configuration, to thereby reduce manufacturing cost and improve workability at the time of assembling. However, the shock absorber configured to mechanically change the damping force, like the stroke-sensitive shock absorber, cannot variably adjust the generated damping force according to the conditions under which the vehicle is driven, a change in the road surface, and the like, and therefore cannot necessarily sufficiently improve ride comfort, maneuvering stability, and the like of the vehicle.
On the other hand, the damping force adjustable shock absorber according to Japanese Patent Application Public Disclosure No. 2009-281584 has a sophisticated function so as to be able to improve the ride comfort and the maneuvering stability of the vehicle. However, in this case, the shock absorber requires the sensor and the like for detecting the conditions under which the vehicle is driven, the change in the road surface, and the like, and uses the expensive electronically controllable actuator and the like, which raises a problem of complicating the entire configuration and making it difficult to improve the workability at the time of the manufacturing and the assembling.